Man Found Dead Near Large Bee Colony

A man in southwest Miami-Dade County was found dead early Tuesday near a colony of tens of thousands of bees.

Police said they could not say whether Jorge Luis Acosta, 61, died from a heart attack, a fall or from bee stings. The cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner's office.

"[A] preliminary investigation revealed that a bee hive, which was located on the roof, may have been disturbed while the male was working," Miami-Dade Police Detective Lena Adams wrote in a statement.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called about 8 a.m. to the property on the 10800 block of Southwest 84th Street and found Acosta on the roof of the three-story apartment complex.

Capt. Jeffrey Fobb, who works with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Unit, said fire rescue workers found Acosta dressed in a partial protective bee suit about 50 feet from a "large colony of bees that contained in his estimation 50,000 to 60,000 bees."

"We all had to don full protective bee suits to secure the body," Fobb said.

The hive was near the roof.

Acosta wore protective gear that covered his head and upper body, but not the rest of his body, Fobb said. Authorities had not determined why the victim was working with the bees, he said.

Neighbors told authorities they had been having problems with a beehive for 18 months, Fobb said.

An autopsy will be performed today, said a spokesman for the medical examiner's office.